Scorched Earth
by mediasres
Summary: Yuuki is on a secret mission as a new student in a high school that also has famous students: Kaname Kuran, the crime lord's son, and Zero Kiryuu, the son of a disgraced branch of a political dynasty. AU: Zeki.


_-I can't promise regular updates, but I will make sure that each chapter finishes with its own semi-ending…no cliffhangers. Yes, I will involve the K, Y, Z love triangle. The good news is that I know where this story is going. Also, heads up because this fanfic deserves its "M" for mature rating. Even the first chapter deserves that rating. This isn't a vampire story, but a crime story set in a high school, but I have no claim to Matsuri Hino's intellectual property of Vampire Knight. AU fanfic. Enjoy!_

* * *

In the years after, the legend grew. The roles of the Kuran, Cross and Kiryuu familes may have gotten jumbled and confused, but everyone could agree that all those principals involved with that tragic disaster had died ten years ago-when the raging fire destroyed the city. No bodies were ever recovered, but the famous gun, sword and scythe-symbols of those once great families-were found in the clean-up.

To help pay for the reconstruction, those weapons were sold at a private auction. The bidding wars were intense that day, but one person was able to outbid the crowd for all three weapons. The winning bidder remained anonymous; however, the proxy who was present had a barely discernable neck tattoo.

Eleven years ago…

Yuuki was rhythmically chewing gum as she walked through the metal detectors and passed the front gates of her new school. They took her metal hair clip because of the sharp edges, so she let her blonde hair fall loosely to her shoulders. Then she put her glasses back on, and explored the school.

Joining the others in the morning homeroom rush, she saw couples making out in dark corners, smaller kids walking past with sunken postures, being harassed by the taller and more confident, and girls in tight, bright colors and deep cleavage, and their faithful male and female followers. Just like any other high school-except…

Turning the corner for her classroom, she heard the nearest couple rustling each other's clothing. When the girl of the couple came up for air, she said, "After tonight, do I get a passing grade?" The panting response was, "If you pump your hand a bit faster, I'll consider it, but you have to hurry up, I need to be on-time for the first homeroom. Kiddies need to know their teacher's face…"

Inwardly balking, Yuuki calmed herself, by recalling that this prestigious school, that outperformed all other schools in the country in terms of grades, also had the notoriety of being in the crime capital of the country as well. A school of smart criminals, teachers and students alike. Well, what wasn't surprising was the student-teacher relationship continuing behind Yuuki, but that the teacher did not seem afraid of being caught.

At the classroom door, Yuuki hesitated for a second. The object of her obsession was behind the simple wooden door. Here is the true start of the story-as the door opened, she made eye contact with Kaname Kuran. Brown eyes met brown eyes and the wheel of destiny turned. Well, not exactly. Yuuki shied from anything bordering on attracting attention to herself, so she smoothly gave a slight smile, and turned her attention to finding an empty desk. It wouldn't due to be on the radar of the heir of the biggest crime family. Not yet anyways.

Sitting and staring into space, she ruminated on what she saw. A tall, handsome brown-haired boy, surrounded by other good-looking boys and girls. What set Kaname apart, was that he was in the center. He was reading a book, despite the chatter going on around him. The eye of the storm.

The teacher from the hallway corner walked in, and he threw a wad of tissues into the trash can. A few minutes later, while attendance was being taken, the young petite brunette who was with him, took a seat next to Yuuki.

The homeroom teacher started getting aggravated when he called the name, "Kiryuu, Zero." While the teacher was getting flustered at the sleeping male student in the corner, Yuuki's new brunette neighbor took the opportunity to put out her hand and introduce herself, "Hi, my name is Sayori, call me Yori. Don't worry, I just washed my hands." She then winked at Yuuki. Yuuki appreciated the warm and ironic welcome, so she also introduced herself, against her better judgement and loner instincts.

From the corner of her eye, Yuuki noted that Kaname got up from his seat, and patted the sleeping silver haired boy on the shoulder. "Wake up Kiryuu, teacher probably won't let us leave until you say hi to him."

Yuuki mentioned at the situation to Yori in the hallway before first period. "Why did the teacher and even some of the students seem both bothered and afraid of the sleeping kid?"

Yori responded, "You must be new then, that's the last son of the Kiryuu family…they are from a long line of police officers and politicians. His parents died under the suspicion of being crooked, but his grandfather is the governor of the state. Generally, we leave him alone, because bothering him is not worth the heat. Also, he's kind of boring, he keeps to himself."

"But most of the class seems scared of him…"

"Hehe, that's what I meant by heat. He does us the favor of not paying attention to the action around him, and we leave him alone.-enough about him. What is a sweet innocent person like yourself doing here?"

"I want to go to a good college?"

"We all do sweetheart. Now what's the real reason."

* * *

After the exhausting day at school, which involved evading Yori's direct questions and quietly observing the student body, Yuuki wanted nothing more than to nap at home. Waiting for her train, she saw Yori running from a couple of young men on the opposite platform. The boys were yelling, "This isn't enough money! Your parents owed double this yesterday!" Passerby gracefully sidestepped the running kids, unperturbed by the disturbance. Yuuki internally yelled at herself…should she help her new friend…but that involves risking attention towards herself when she wasn't ready.

Yuuki went with her instinct to help, and lifted her hoodie over her head, and slipped off her blonde wig underneath the hood and hooked the wig under her bra on her back. She then took off her glasses and stood up…running up and down stairs to get to the other platform.

Yuuki wasn't fast enough though. By the time she reached Yori, Yori was crying into the arms of the silver-haired sleepy kid from class; they were surrounded by the knocked down bodies of the would-be bullies. Yuuki saw Yori get on the next train, and Yuuki breathed a sigh of relief-Yori was safe and Yuuki didn't have to risk her cover. As she turned around to get her own train, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

That kid—Zero was it?-was behind her. Zero said, "I like your hair like this better." He then tapped the dumbstruck Yuuki on the head lightly and sauntered away. Yuuki seriously debated killing the guy, but she reasoned all he knew was that Yuuki liked changing her hair, not her real identity. Gulping a fresh breath of air, Yuuki started to make her way home.


End file.
